Imaginary Place
by vanillatwilight089
Summary: Riku's POV. Since the trio come back to Destiny Island, a lot has changed. Riku constantly gets caught up in an imaginary place in his head where things are different... Because in reality, he's engaged to Kairi, but he has romantic feelings for his best friend Sora. And the engagement and lack of courage make Riku feel like he can't confess his emotions. SoRiku. My first fic. R&R!
1. Chapter 1: Life's Not Easy

**AN: ****_Hey, that summary sucked, I'm really sooorry, but this is my first, so read it maybe?_**

**_Okay, so this is my first fanfic! Yay! I got a case of summer boredom... and yeah. Do feel free to leave a review and the like. *wink* It would be greatly appreciated. ;u; _**

**_Ooh, almost forgot. _**

**Disclaimer: _I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters. Unfortunately. But, I'm still waiting for that letter in the mail from Square Enix telling me that it's all mine. TuT_**

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**Chapter 1 - Life's Not Easy**

_**Riku's POV**_

I sighed lightly, shifting my position to get more comfortable in the sand. It was nice, just sitting on the beach, letting my mind drift off. Letting my head carry me to a place away from Destiny Island.

A place where things actually went the way that I so desperately wished they would.

"Riku, there you are, baby!" a familiar female voice yelled from behind me. I didn't bother answering or turning around; I knew it was Kairi.

"I've been looking for you!" she whispered in my ear as she hugged me from behind, nuzzling her face into my neck.

When I ignored her, she tapped my shoulder. "Okay, Mr. Unresponsive, what's the deal with you lately? You're not quite yourself. Aren't you excited?" she asked before I moved again, indicating silently that I wanted her to get off me. Unfortunately, she didn't take the hint.

"I'm excited," I deadpanned. I honestly wished she would go away so I could return to the perfect world in my head.

"Ku, something's wrong. You don't seem happy. Lighten up, love, there's only one more week!" She pinched my face.

"Ouch, Kairi, jeez," I said, rubbing my cheek before forcing a smile onto my face. "Sorry I don't seem excited or anything; I really am. I think I'm just tired."

"You should get home soon, then, silly." She giggled and snuggled into the curve of my neck again.

I nodded slowly. "I will. I just want to relax here a little longer."

"Okay, well, my dad will start freaking out if I don't get home soon. You know how he is. See you tomorrow! I'm so excited, Ku!" she exclaimed, "I love you so much."

She kissed my cheek before standing up and dusting sand off of her knees.

"L-Love you too, Kairi."

She ruffled my hair and ran off, her bare feet kicking up sand.

_Man, _I thought, _this is all messed up. _I shivered at the thought that I was marrying Kairi in just a matter of seven small days. _If only I could make myself fall for Kairi the way I did when we were kids. Then everything might not seem so twisted. But that's how it is. Life's not easy._

I let out a deep sigh of frustration. "Life's certainly not easy," I said aloud to myself.

"Oh, damn it all," I muttered before laying back onto the sand and staring blankly into the darkening evening sky.

_I love you, Sora. _I had repeated that sentence countless times in my mind ever since we'd come back home.

Of course, I didn't intend to tell him for all my life.

_I love you, Sora. _But, it was forever a one-sided love.

When we'd all gotten back to Destiny Island, I started to find myself being conscious of everything about him whenever I was with him. His words, his attitude, appearance… I started to find myself falling madly in love with Sora.

But, we were both guys. And, I knew that he, like any normal male, preferred girls. Like any normal male, he would start dating a girl… and eventually get married.

No matter how much I thought about him, no matter how much time we would spend together, we would always be best friends. Nothing more.

Even though my feelings were pointless, I knew I was always going to wish on a hopeless star, wish that I could be something more special to him than a "best friend."

That was why I'd decided on Kairi. When Sora and I were younger, we both had a huge crush on her and it seemed like everything we did was to try and compete for her.

Since Sora told me that he had no interest at all in Kairi anymore, I figured that maybe I could make myself attracted to her again, and maybe that would get me over my aimless devotion to Sora.

So, she and I dated for a couple of years. She told me she'd always had an undeniable crush on me (even though she'd always seemed to be closer to Sora).

When she turned nineteen and I was twenty, I asked her to marry me. She was so happy and she cried for a really long time. She really did seem to love me a lot, much more than I loved her.

I proposed in January and she wanted the ceremony to be in December. I agreed; it wasn't like I cared about it that much.

She told me her elaborate plans of a beautiful white winter wedding on the beach.

A wedding on the same beach where Sora and I used to play-fight with wooden swords and run and swim alone. Just the two of us, before she came here from Radiant Garden.

So, here I was, one week before the wedding, one week before Kairi and I would spend the rest of our lives together, and I was still in love with Sora.

And I was still trying to give up on him.

"But, goddamn it," I said to no one, "it's way too hard."

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_**Soooo, what'd you think of the first chapter? ;D There is more coming. I have too many ideas in my noggin. **_

_**Please leave me a review and tell me what you thought and what I should change and all of that. u ;**_

_**Thankies! **_


	2. Chapter 2: Cold Shoulder

**AN:_ Okay, wow, it took a while to upload this. -_-; But it's here now, so yay!_**

**Chapter 2 - Cold Shoulder**

_**Riku's POV**_

_What time is it? _I wondered, my head still blank with sleep.

After glancing at my alarm clock, I groaned. "Ah, come on, why the hell did I wake up at 3 AM?"

I frowned for a minute before an enormous quake of thunder shook the room, followed by my doorbell being rung at least ten times. "I guess that's why."

I fumbled around for my lamp on my nightstand, and switched it on, feeling much more comfortable in my room now that it wasn't dark.

The doorbell rang repeatedly again and I stood up out of bed stiffly, my limbs feeling tired.

I groaned as I walked down the staircase and wondered who on earth thought it would be fun to wake me up this early.

When I got downstairs, I could hear rain pounding against the house and see lightning flashing though the window.

"RIKUUUUU! Riku, are you there?Open the doooooor! Pleeeeeease?" someone yelled along with more obnoxious bell-ringing.

Upon recognizing the voice, I opened the door, only to find, lo and behold, a soaking wet Sora standing outside with a small yellow umbrella over his head and terrified blue eyes.

Before I could say anything to him, he rushed inside and hugged me; and I could feel his racing heartbeat against my bare stomach through the wet fabric of his shirt.

"Riku, Riku, Riku! Oh, thank goodness you're awake! I got really scared because of the storm because my parents are gone and I'm all alone and I thought you weren't up because I was standing out there for, like, twenty minutes calling you and ringing your doorbell and-"

I peeled Sora off of me and stood back to look at him. _Damn, he looks so adorable when he's scared. _

"Uh, Sor?" I asked with a sigh.

"Y-yeah?" he replied, looking confused as to why I'd pushed his embrace away.

"…You do realize that it's three in the goddamn morning and you came all the way over here to wake me up because it's raining, right?"

He crossed his arms indignantly. "What's that supposed to mean? It's windy and it's thundering and lightning, too!"

Shifting a little bit, he looked at his feet and spoke again. "A-Anyways, what I wanted to ask was… Can I, uh, stay here for the rest of the night? I was lonely and scared at home because I was the only one there, and… Please?"

He glanced up at me again and I could tell how embarrassed he was for asking.

I wanted to let him stay. I mean, he was obviously completely afraid of the thunderstorm and needed human interaction. And I, of course, didn't want him to be scared. But, I knew he would want to sleep in my bed with me. We'd always slept in the same bed when we stayed the night together, ever since we were little.

_I don't think I'd do very well now with Sora right next to me in bed… _

I frowned a little before I thought of something.

"Only if you sleep on the couch," I suggested, pointing into the living room at the sofa.

He pouted. "But, Kuuuu! That's the same thing as being alone! I'll be down here and you'll be all the way upstairs!"

I groaned. "Sora. Just sleep down here, please. I'll go get you a towel and some clothes because you're dripping wet. And a pillow and blanket and you'll be fine. Okay?"

He seemed completely bewildered that I wasn't kindly agreeing to let him sleep in my room, but he nodded.

"Okay, fine… Hey, Riku? Uh, I'm sorry I came over and woke you up." He gave me a guilty little smile.

I started back up the staircase to get Sora's sleeping necessities without a response to his apology.

In my bedroom, I rummaged around in my dresser, trying to find some smaller clothes, because Sora was considerably tinier than me.

The only things I managed to find were a navy blue t-shirt and some grey sweatpants. After that, I went to the bathroom, grabbed him a towel, and went back down the stairs to find Sora still waiting at the front door.

"Here," I said quietly, handing him the towel and clothes.

"Thanks, Ku, I really appreciate it," he replied, taking the towel and starting to dry his brown spikes of hair.

"Mhm," I said with a quick nod.

We had an awkward silent moment before Sora broke it by saying, "Well, uhm, I'm going to go change and dry off and all that… Thanks for the stuff, Riku." He grinned again before heading to the powder room down the hallway.

I wondered if he'd even noticed I was acting differently. I didn't want to act all mean and cold to him. But, I also didn't want to love him. That was the only thing keeping me from letting him sleep in my bed or letting myself hug him back or even simply letting myself accept his timid apology.

Shutting my eyes, I leaned against the couch, another thought creeping into my head.

_Six more days… _

I let myself sink back to my Imaginary Place again. That was the only place I felt comfortable anymore.

In my head, I wasn't engaged to Kairi- I didn't even know if there _was _a Kairi in my Imaginary Place.

And I could tell Sora the way I felt about him. And it wasn't awkward, even though we were both guys who'd been friends since childhood.

And he returned those feelings.

"Uh, Riku, are you okay?" Sora spoke, and it took me a moment to realize that he was standing right in front of me.

"Wha- Oh, yeah, just fine," I said.

He giggled. "You looked pretty thoughtful. What were you daydreaming about? Ooh, lemme guess. Kairi?" He added a playful wink at the end of his statement.

"I, I… No, not Kairi." I muttered quickly.

I looked him up and down. Just as I'd expected, the clothes were too big. And I couldn't help but notice how bright blue that t-shirt made his eyes look.

After stretching out like a cat on the sofa, he yawned. "Well, I guess I'm going to sleep now. Thanks for everything, and I'm sorry I bothered you, Ku."

It was much cuter when he called me that nickname than Kairi.

"Good night, Sor." I said before flicking the light switch and darkening the living room.

"Night, Riku," he whispered through the pitch-darkness.

Sleep did not decide to come easily after that. The storm was still relentlessly pounding on outside. And I kept thinking… about everything.

_I wonder if Sora fell asleep down there_, I wondered with a sinking feeling.

I sat up in bed. "Screw this, I can't sleep," I mumbled to nobody but myself.

Yawning, I stood up and trudged down the stairs, deciding to just waste time and wander around the house aimlessly.

I took special care to be quiet when I passed by the living room. I glanced over at Sora, who was splayed awkwardly across my couch with one leg hanging off to the side. I couldn't help but to snicker at the strange position he was in.

_Hey, wait a sec, _I thought with a silent gasp, _I forgot to get Sora a blanket and a pillow. _

"Ah, shit," I muttered, rushing over to a closet in the hall and pulling out a spare pillow and the biggest blanket I could find.

Tip-toeing back over to the couch, I dropped to my knees in front of Sora, wondering how I was going to do this without waking him up.

I slid a hand under his cheek that was pressed against the armrest of the sofa, and lifted his face as gently and slowly as I could, and with my other hand, slid the pillow underneath. I waited for a moment to see if he would wake up, but he didn't stir, so I draped the blanket over him and tucked the edges in around his body.

He looked really peaceful when he slept.

Without thinking, I lifted my hand to his cheek and traced over his skin lightly with my fingertips.

"I love you… Sora," I murmured almost silently. My heart felt heavy as I kept my fingers on his face, still massaging the soft and warm skin lightly.

It was really relieving to say it out loud, even if he hadn't heard me.

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_**So, once again, review and tell me what to fix and all! I'll try to be faster with the next chapter, I promise. *sweatdrop***_

_**Thank you! :3 *virtual glomp***_


	3. Chapter 3: Proper Relations

_******I feel so baaad. TT_TT I'm so slow. I'm sorry. BUT! I have an excuse. XD There's been plenty of family drama, shall I say, going on for the past month... Ehh. **_

_**DREAM DROP DISTANCE IS OUT AHHHHHH. IT'S SO GOOD. TwT I want a Dream Eater in real life. **_

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**Chapter 3 - Proper Relations**

_**Riku's POV**_

"Hey, let's go get Wakka!"

"Good idea, maybe Selphie will want to play to."

"Yeah, c'mon!"

_Damn, _I cursed silently, _is he ever alone?_

I watched Sora and Tidus playing volleyball together on the beach- from a distance of course. I was leaning against a coconut tree and making sure he didn't see me… because then he would've thought I was creeping on him.

Which, more or less, I was.

It wasn't that I was spying to see what he was doing, though; I was just trying to talk to him alone because I was worried about him.

Ever since the night he'd stayed at my house due to the storm, it seemed like he'd been ignoring me. Every time I tried to approach him, he was usually surrounded by people and pretended not to see me and then left. And, even though I'd been trying to stop being friendly to him and give up on him, getting a mirrored reaction from him freaked me out a little.

"Wait a sec, Tidus, I should find my necklace… I don't know where I put it. Go ahead and get Selphie and Wakka, will you?" I watched as Tidus nodded and jogged off in the other direction to go get the others.

_He's finally alone. Go ask him what's going on._

Quietly as I could, I emerged from my hideout behind the coconut tree and approached Sora, who was searching around in the sand for his necklace on all fours.

He didn't notice me right behind him, and my first instinct was to yell and scare him, but I decided that would've been immature.

"Sora," I started as he spun around, a panicky look on his face.

"O-Oh, Riku it's… It's just you. You scared me," he said with a quiet nervous chuckle.

I held out my hand to help him up, but he only looked at it and then stood on his own.

"Listen, Riku, I, uh, should go catch up with Tidus and Selphie and-"

I cut him off. "What about your necklace? You can't leave yet."

His eyes got big. "How do you… Were you… watching me?" he asked in dismay.

"No," I lied, "I was just walking by here and I stopped when I saw you because I need to talk to you."

"About what?" he asked with a frown. "Make it quick, please."

I sighed. "You've been avoiding me lately."

No response.

"Sora, if there's something bothering you, I have no idea what it is. Just tell me, please? You know you can tell me anything."

He stared intently at the sand for a while without a word.

"Sora," I repeated, laying a hand on his shoulder.

Without looking at me or saying anything, he turned around and started running the same direction Tidus had gone earlier.

"S-Sora, wait!" I yelled after him. "Sora, you're scaring me, stop running for a sec, please!"

He stopped abruptly about a few yards away from me. "…What..?" He asked, not turning towards me.

I strode over to where he was standing and returned the comforting hand to his shoulder.

"Quit it," he muttered and swatted my hand away.

I sighed deeply and he turned around.

"What do you mean, 'I'm scaring you?'" he inquired, crossing his arms and I could see tears welled in his eyes.

"Really, Sor. What's the matter? Why are you crying and why do you keep ignoring m-"

I stopped talking mid-sentence when a certain flashback from a few nights ago came back to me.

I was kneeling next to the couch. I was bringing Sora a blanket and- and I'd told him that I love him.

_Maybe he heard you… Maybe that's what this is about._

"Y-You heard me… didn't you? You heard what I said," I whispered, unable to resist bringing my hand to his cheek and wiping the tears away gently.

He didn't question what I was talking about, and thankfully he didn't push my hand away this time.

"Sora," I said quietly before kneeling down in front of him so he was taller than me.

His sapphire eyes stared into mine and I could tell he was still upset.

I knew I had to say something, had to lie about this so he wouldn't be upset at me.

"You misunderstood," I started, still kneeling, "I think you took that the wrong way.""H-Huh?" he asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

After thinking for a second, I spoke again. "I didn't mean that I love you like that."

He scoffed. "Well, what else could you have meant?'

"Sor, I've known you forever and you're my closest friend."

"I don't get it," he said, blinking slowly.

I sighed again. God, I hated lying like this.

"I didn't mean that I love you, like… romantically, I mean it in the sense that I love you as my best friend in all the worlds," I said before faking a smile and standing up again.

"Oh," he murmured, a blank, unreadable look on his face- which was unusual because it's normally really easy to tell what Sora's thinking.

I coughed nervously and we stood for a minute in awkward silence. "So, yeah… Sorry about that weird misunderstanding there."

Sora was the first to speak, crossing his arms behind his head in his trademark fashion. "Yeah, sorry I, uh, overreacted."

"Forgive me?" I asked and he gave me one of those adorable grins.

He nodded and hugged me. "Of course, Ku."

My heart sank a little. Well, this wasn't making things any easier… at all.

I glanced down at him and couldn't help chuckling.

_So cute. _

"Well, I'll help you find your necklace and then hopefully Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie will be back soon so you guys can carry on your volleyball game," I said, roughing up his hair.

"Hey," he started, tugging at my t-shirt, "how about you and your lovebird join us?"

"Alright, I'll go tell Kairi to join us then."

He nodded, still smiling. "My necklace will turn up somewhere when we're playing."

"Kay, go find Kairi and I'll go try to figure out where the heck the others are," he said playfully.

His tone of voice changed. "By the way… Sorry again for… all of that misunderstanding," he mumbled.

"That's alright." It did make me happy knowing that at least Sora and I were on good terms again.

"Meet us back here then!" he shouted over his shoulder and ran off again.

"Okay!" I yelled back, heading towards Kairi's house, figuring that's where she would be.

_So, now it's back to normal. It's back to the way things are supposed to be… Just friends. _

I knew I was the one that was wrong for loving him. But… I couldn't help but to want to see those eyes look at me a little differently, or hear his voice calling my name in just a different tone, or to feel his hands touch me with a different meaning.

It was out of reach, and it always would be, though. This was the normal way for things to be- the way things were supposed to stay.

Why else would Sora have reacted the way he did to what I said? He figured that I was in love with him, which would mean I'm gay. And I think it would freak anyone out to find that their best friend is a homosexual who is attracted to him. His reaction obviously meant that he did not feel the same things for me. Not that I didn't know that already.

Before I even realized it, I was approaching Kairi's house. I knocked on the door sharply a few times and waited for someone to come out.

_This is how it's supposed to be… _I repeated in my head.

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_**I WILL do better from now on. No more family troubles. Anyway, review and all that good stuff. It makes meh happy!**_


	4. Chapter 4: Deal With It

****_**AN: **_**I've been having migraines and a sinus infection lately, paired with a strong case of being emotional. So, this was birthed. Read and review? **

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**Chapter 4- Deal With It**

_**Riku's POV**_

"It hasn't like this for a while. Just us," Sora said in a relaxed, quiet voice.

He and I were sitting on the Paopu tree together- alone. Just the two of us, no chance of running into Kairi.

_Sort of like my Imaginary Place…_ I thought in the back of my mind.

"Mhm," I responded, staring out at the horizon line where the sky was already turning shades of peach and lavender.

"Where is Kairi, anyway?" Sora inquired, kicking his dangling feet against the tree.

Without breaking my gaze into the ocean, I sighed. "The groom's not supposed to see the bride twenty-four hours before the wedding, so she went somewhere. Don't ask where; I have no clue."

He nodded. "Oh, okay. Right, I knew that," he said, giving one of his trademark stupid grins that made my heart twinge.

"I'm still sorry I freaked at you when you said… Er, yeah. Sorry," he mumbled, glancing up at me.

With a quiet laugh, I sighed. "It's fine, Sor. It was just pretty unlike you to react like that."

Sora giggled nervously. "Sorry. I probably got you all confused now, with crying happy tears when I found you and then getting mad at you for something trivial."

"I thought that was sweet," I said, mainly to myself, but nevertheless, out loud.

"Huh?" Sora inquired.

"When you cried at finding me. I thought it was sweet."

I thought I could see a blush creeping across his cheeks, but he turned his head away quickly and I couldn't be sure.

"Heh. I was just so happy to see you, y'know?" He looked up at me and his cheeks were indeed bright pink. "Hey, Ku? I've always wondered. What was it like? The darkness?" he asked timidly.

The question surprised me a little, and I really didn't want to answer because that would having to think about the time I spent in darkness.

"Well," I started quietly, shifting so my back was against the tree and I was facing Sora, "it was… dark, obviously. And lonely. And scary. Why do you ask?" Sora shrugged. "I don't know… I just wondered what it was like for you all that time. It's good to be back, though, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah." I shut my eyes to the sound of gentle waves below us and I heard Sora sigh.

"I have a question for you, now," I started, flicking an annoying strand of hair away from my face.

He turned his head up to me, listening.

"Just wondering… How do you feel about all of this? Kairi and I, and all of that."He blinked. "Why?" "I just wanna know," I shrugged, and he bit his lip, looking unsure of how to answer me.

"If it makes you happy, then I'm happy too. As long as we stay friends," he insisted and those last words made my stomach twist.

"Of course we'll stay friends, are you kidding?" I asked in mock anger, pushing him backwards off the tree with my foot.

"Hey!" he shouted, laughing on his back in the sand.

I grinned at him and he stood up to dust all of the sand off of himself.

"Hey, Riku, bet I can race you across the bridge!" he teased.

Well, I wasn't one to turn down a challenge. "I'd like to see you try."

And without even counting down or letting me get ready, Sora took off running to the other side of the bridge.

"Don't forget I have longer legs than you!" I shouted, catching up to him despite his head start.

When I was safely ahead of him (completely unaware of where we were supposed to end the race, might I add; we were running on the beach by this time), I felt a pair of hands push my back and make me lose my footing so I fell headfirst into the sand, taking in a gritty mouthful.

"Blech," I spat, using my hands to rub the sand off of my tongue.

"Revenge!" Sora cried victoriously, falling down into the sand next to me.

Upon seeing me spitting and rubbing my tongue furiously, he laughed and crawled over a few feet to grab his backpack and search around in it.

"Here," he said, tossing me a water bottle, and I took it gratefully.

"Thanks," I muttered.

I set the water bottle down beside me after ridding my mouth of at least most of the grainy sand and Sora laid down next to me.

There was this uncomfortable, almost tense feeling between us all of the sudden, like one of us had said something really awkward. Maybe it was just me, though.

"Don't fall asleep on me now," I chuckled, looking down at Sora who was laying with his eyes closed.

He sat up. "I almost did," he said roguishly.

"Oh, geez, didn't know I was that boring to you," I replied.

Another silence.

Thankfully, Sora spoke first, because I really had no idea what to say. "Riku, I- um…" He trailed off before leaning over suddenly and hugging me, burying his head in my chest and both of his arms wrapped completely around me.

"S-Sora?!" I asked in alarm.

He lifted his face, which was dangerously close to mine. "Riku, I'm confused."

I blinked a few times before Sora pulled away, but he still sat closer to me than before.

"I am too, to be honest," I said to him.

"You really love Kairi, right? Then why did you say that to me?" he asked, his voice cracking a little.

"Sora, we established this. I meant as a best frien-"

"Don't give me that shit!" he yelled, and my eyes got big; one, because I didn't know why he was yelling at me, and two, because it's extremely rare to hear Sora cuss.

He sat up straight. "I heard you. You told me you loved me like you were about to start crying, so don't start with this "you know what I mean" bull, okay? You meant it like you said it. I just feel like I don't know anything…" he finished and his eyes filled with tears.

I pulled him into a hug, tight enough so he couldn't escape my grip. "What are you doing?" he muttered.

"Tell me why you feel like you don't know anything, Sor."

He sniffled. "When- When you said that you loved me, I was a little surprised… but I was definitely happy. But then I thought about how you're engaged to Kairi yet you told me you loved me and it confused me and I didn't know what to think. So… I don't know. Do you love me or not?"

Blood pounded quietly in my ears. It was uncomfortable, being put on the spot like that. I didn't know whether I should lie even more or just tell him the truth. Then, I didn't know if I should just tell him a little bit of the truth or spill everything, all of my feelings and thoughts for him.

_Just say everything. It's not like it could make things worse. God, but where do I start?_

Then I did something horribly impulsive that I was sure I was going to regret, but I didn't have a damn to give at that moment.

"Sora," I whispered so he looked at me before I took his chin in my hand and pulled his face forward gently.

I tilted my head and pressed my lips against his, feeling lightheaded.

Sora made a quiet noise in his throat and I expected him to pull away, but he didn't. Instead, he crawled closer to my body and I could feel his racing heartbeat syncing with mine.

Not wanting to scare him or go too fast, I kept the kiss innocent and light, with both of our mouths closed until he pulled away slowly with half-lidded eyes.

"R-Riku…" he said almost too quietly for me to hear, holding a hand against my cheek.

"Your lips are soft, Sora."

I knew this was a bad idea. But I couldn't help myself. And the fact that Sora wasn't backing away made me want to keep going even more.

I kissed him again, this time pressing my tongue against his closed lips. His eyes widened for a second before he shut them again and opened his mouth slightly, allowing me just enough space to push in and delve every inch of his warm mouth.

Sora, seeming a bit unaware of what to do, stayed stock-still. I rubbed my tongue against his, urging him into play, causing him to make a soft moaning sound until he caught on and started moving his tongue against mine.

We stayed like that for a moment, locking lips and tongue muscles sliding all over each other until we didn't even know whose was whose. Eventually, though, I broke for air and Sora panted.

"So, to answer your question," I said quietly, resting my forehead against his, "yes, I love you. I've loved you ever since we got back to Destiny Island."

"You idiot…" he mumbled, putting his arms around my neck, "I've loved you ever since we were kids."

I smiled- the first genuine smile I'd given in a long time- before continuing. "And the reason that I'm marrying Kairi is because I never wanted to tell you how I feel and to try and get over you, I started dating her. Then I proposed, and now, here I am, kissing you, which is a dream, but also a really bad situation."

"Yeah," he agreed, gulping, "So… you mean you really don't have any feelings for Kairi?"

I shook my head. "Nothing. I've just been faking it the whole time."

Tears started rolling down his cheeks again and I wiped them away gently.

"So, that means… even if we love each other… You can't call everything off now, so, I guess that means we can never be…"

"Together?" I finished after his voice trailed off. He nodded and I kissed his forehead gently before pulling him into my arms.

"I'm sorry, Sora. I wish I could do something now, but- but I can't, I guess."

_I'm even farther away from my Imaginary Place, now. Sora and I are going to have to give this up, and I'm going to have to live my life with Kairi. _

"Now what?" he asked rubbing a tear from his eye before relaxing into the curve of my neck.

I wanted to tell him that we should stop before this got any worse, but I couldn't. I didn't want to. I wanted to keep his body in my lap with my arms around him. The moment would've been so perfect, had it not been for the huge event coming the next day.

"I'm dreading tomorrow," I said.

He glanced up at me with sad sapphire eyes. "That's just the way things are," he said, a strange bitter tone in his words. "But it's not fair."

No, it wasn't fair at all. "Sora?" I asked, feeling warnings of tears pricking behind my eyes, but holding them back, "Does your heart feel heavy?"

He nodded, and I struggled to swallow a lump in my throat.

"Well," he said, "I guess you'd better go. Tomorrow's big, you should rest up."

Nodding reluctantly, I let Sora climb out of my lap and stood up slowly.

"Let's just… forget this happened, I guess," Sora said with a fake smile on his face.

"I'll try. Not like it's going to be easy."

He nodded in agreement before asking for one more kiss.

"Of course," I responded and he stood on his toes to rest his warm lips on mine one last time.

"Okay," he said, barely aloud, "I guess I should go now. Bye… Riku." And then he turned to walk away, glancing back at me, looking troubled.

In the back of my head, I wanted to yell after him not to leave, and tell him that I could call the wedding off, but I knew that was out of the question.

"Bye, Sor," I called after him.

I waited till he was out of sight before leaning against a tree and sliding to sit down. Then the waterworks started. I cried. For the first time I could remember, I cried. About everything. I'd thought that maybe confessing finally, after all this time, would make things easier. "God, what the hell was I thinking?" I asked myself.

This was just making things even harder to deal with.

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**That's that chapter. C; I promise le ending will be happy, though. I would love to nom on some delicious reviews? Om nom nom. Thanksies~~**


	5. Chapter 5: Disclosed

**Re-up. Wow, my laptop hates me and decided to mess some things up. Yay.**

**AN: You guuuuys. I'm so ashamed of myself. D: I've made you wait forever for this chapter AND the last one sucked. I'm so sorry. Bad Sophie, bad Sophie. -_-; I'm currently moving out of my shitty apartment into a little rental house for no one but me and my cat. And I have way too much stuff to pack. And on top of it, I've been having some serious issues going elsewhere. Hey, since my romantic life sucks ass, why not go write about two fake individuals being gay for each other! :'D Forever alone.**

**Chapter 5- Disclosed**

_**Riku's POV**_

At least I still had some time left before everything started. I yawned, having been awake nearly the entire night before and leaned back against the dock, letting my eyes fall shut.

Swallowing hard, I tried to drive Sora's resounding voice out of my head. But I kept hearing him in my mind, telling me that we should forget it, forget anything happened.

It was going to be harder now to get on with my life. But I figured I could handle it. And I figured we might be able to be "just best friends" again one day.

Standing up there, waiting for Kairi to walk out, into the aisle, I could hardly think. I felt a cold sweat run down my back underneath my stiff clothes. I really wished everyone would stop looking at me; it frankly disturbed me a little.

An idea crossed my mind. I hadn't seen Sora since our little… incident, and I glanced around for him.

He was sitting in the very front row of chairs and I stared at him hard, trying to get his attention, but his gaze was fixed intently on his shoes.

I jumped a little bit at sudden music playing and I looked up at Kairi walking in. She looked pretty… I guess. Her hair was pinned up perfectly and she had on a mermaid-ish dress. It took me a minute before I realized that she was grinning at me, and that I was supposed to smile back.

Faking a smile for the hundredth time, I watched her come closer ever so slowly. I honestly wanted to scream at everything to hurry up because everything was going at a painfully sluggish pace.

After forever and then a few hours, the two of us approached the preacher-guy and he started talking for another eternity. And I said what I had to and so did Kairi.

_This is it. The moment I've been dreading is here. _

I zoned out for most of what he was saying, and as Kairi's dad was giving her away and whatnot.

The minister said something about us "beginning our lives together". What a coincidence, that was exactly why I didn't want to get married!

"…speak now or forever hold your peace."

My heart felt restricted in my chest when the minister said those words. Vaguely hoping that someone would stand up and get me out of this shithole, I turned around and big sapphire eyes met with mine.

Murmurs from people filled the area and all eyes were staring disapprovingly at Sora, who was the only one standing.

I heard Kairi make a gasping noise from beside me and Sora's guilty face stared at me before he spoke.

"U-Uh, I guess this isn't really an, an objection. But, I just…"

He gulped.

"I just wanted to say that… I-I… Even if it's weird and impossible, I just want you to know, Riku, that… that I- I still love you. A lot."

The people gasped and started talking, whispers echoing everywhere as Sora glanced around at everyone, looking like he regretted saying anything.

My palms were hot and my face might've even been red. Everything was out in the open now.

I looked over at Kairi, just to see her reaction and she looked a bit mortified.

I looked back to Sora then. Or, attempted to, rather. During the time I'd been looking at Kairi's confused expression, he must've left.

"Riku, what's going on?" Kairi asked, grabbing my arm gently and staring with wondering eyes.

Everything was a bit of a mess by now. "I'll be right back."

Everyone was talking and trying to figure out why I was walking away from Kairi, why she looked so upset, and where Sora was.

I asked some people if they'd seen where he'd gone, and they told me he went to the direction of the bathrooms.

So I trekked over there.

"Sora," I called in, opening the door to a little bathroom with three stalls.

Nothing greeted me but silence.

_Well. It shouldn't be hard to find him; it's a small room and he must be in here._

I bent over to look under the stalls, but I didn't see any feet.

_I'm such an idiot,_ I mentally scolded myself, noticing that one of three doors was locked.

"Sora," I repeated, knocking on the closed door and waiting for a response.

"No, go away," a quiet voice answered.

_Bingo._

"Sora, open the door."

"I said no!"

"Open the goddamn door, please!"

Metal clinked and I heard a sniffle as Sora slowly pulled the stall door open, letting me in.

He looked so pitiful. His face and eyes were red and swollen and tear marks striped his cheeks.

"Riku…" he murmured.

He was sitting on the toilet, his legs curled up to his chest and his chin on his knees. I knelt down in front of him and smiled a little.

"Thank you," I whispered, unable to resist holding a hand to his face.

Sora covered my hand with his and blinked.

"For wh-what?" he asked timidly before I reached up to kiss his cheek.

"You stopped the wedding. It's all screwed up now and if it all goes well now… we may have our way."His eyes grew and he shook his head. "I screwed it up? Riku, I'm sorry, it's my fault, I messed it up, I-"I raised a finger to his lips and shushed quietly.

"You didn't do anything wrong, Sor. You saved me- you saved us."

"I did?" I chuckled at his adorable innocence. "Yeah. Now-""Riku? Are you in here? Sora? What's going on, you guys?" Kairi's voice interrupted.

Sora looked at me guiltily at the worried tone in Kairi's voice and I gave a reassuring smile.

"Kairi… I…" I started."R-Riku, what are you in there for? Sora, are you in there?"

"U-Uhm, yeah." He nudged at me to say something.

"Could you, uh, go away? Sora and I are… Yeah."

There was a silence from her before heels clicked closer.

"Sora, can you explain at least why you… why you said that? About Riku? I'm confused!"

Sora blinked at me, unsure of what to say to Kairi, who was still standing right outside of the stall.

"Kairi," I began, "there's something I really ought to say. I'm not, er, interested… in… women."

_Way to be as un-straightforward as possible, Riku._

I could almost feel Kairi staring at me with heated laser vision. "You- You what? You're gay?"

"Yeah." That was all I had to say before her high heeled shoes made more clacking as she was walking away and the door slammed loudly behind her.

It was quiet for a moment between Sora and me.

"Is she gone?" Sora asked me.

I nodded before reaching up to embrace him and pressing gentle kisses to his face, kissing away tears from his eyelashes.

"Riku…" He hugged me back and nuzzled into my neck. "I love you."

Smiling with a funny warm feeling in my heart, I pulled him tighter into my arms and replied. "I love you, too, Sora."

I grinned harder. Even if the wedding was a waste of money and a mess, even if Kairi was going to hate us and be mad at us for a while, even if the whole island thought we were freaks, even if Sora's parents were going to metaphorically kill us both, and even if this wasn't going to work out in the long run. I didn't care. I had Sora here now, and he was mine. And I was his. And looking into those gorgeous blue eyes I'd wanted for such a long time, a thought crossed my head…

That maybe, just maybe, my Imaginary Place wasn't so far away after all.

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**END.**

**That's it. Happy ending. XD **

**Well, I have, like, 4 things in progress to upload one day, once I move and I'm not so busy and stuff. C:**

Thank you for reading, guys 3 You make me happy ;D

**Review? Thankies~ And sorry for burdening you with my personal life. **

**PEACESKIES and stay individual~**


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